Curriculum

The PSC PhD Program Science & Policy requires completion of 12 ECTS (credit points) in the specialized curriculum of the program.

Additional ECTS (behind the 12 ECTS) are not mandatory but can be obtained from Life Science Zurich Graduate School courses, and PSC and university courses in the area of transferable skills.

For your curriculum choose courses from the table below. The table is taken from PhD Program Science and Policy Guidelines (1MB) (PDF, 481 KB):

Activities	ECTS
Compulsory Activity: Minimum 4 out of 6 modules Policy Workshops, offered by the PSC, 2 ECTS each: Evidence-based Policy-making Stakeholder Engagement Communicating Science Building Political Support Analysis and Communication of Risks and Uncertainties Understanding Policy Evaluation 1 Lecture in Introduction to Political Sciences, min. 1 ECTS (see Approved Science and Policy Courses) All PhD students enrolled 1.1.2022 or later at ETHZ must visit a course on "Research Integrity" in your department (1 ECTS -> registration through MyStudies). All PhD students (ETHZ, UZH, UNIB) enrolled before 1.1.2022 must visit in minimum the LSZGS "Introductory Lecture to Good Scientific Practice (GSP) and Scientific Integrity" (0 ECTS) or the ETHZ Workshop "Research Integrity"(0 ECTS).	9-10
Elective Activities from the Science & Policy Program: Specialized Course: Strategic Foresight and Scenario Building (1 ECTS) Specialized Course: Transforming and Changing Social Practices (1 ECTS, from FS 24)
Other Elective Activities: Technical Courses: Intensive workshops on skills, methods and techniques in your domain Transferable Skill Courses from PSC, LSZGS or universities Participation in 1 international scientific symposium with own scientific contribution (oral or poster presentation) (1 ECTS) Part of PSC PhD Symposium committee (2 ECTS) ETHZ: committee work (min. 1 year of participation) (1 ECTS) UZH: Engagement in Green labs (max. 2 ECTS)

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Accreditation for other courses (ECTS)

Participation in other courses (national/international) needs prior agreement of your PhD supervisor.

All ECTS acquired outside of Universities of Zurich and Basel, ETH Zurich and associated PhD Programs need a confirmed accreditation through the PSC office: fill the form in the submenu Procedures → Accreditation of external courses.

PSC offers courses in collaboration with Life Science Zurich Graduate School, University of Zurich, University of Basel and ETH Zurich. Students have to make sure to follow accreditation procedures for all other courses.

Note

All PhD students who enrolled before 1.1.2022 have to participate in the LSZGS introduction event Scientific Integrity - An Introductory Course (2 hours, no ECTS). During this event students sign the declaration of “Good scientific practice” that becomes part of your DissGo documents.

Alternatively all PhD students who enrolled before 1.1.2022 have to visit a Workshop "Research Integrity" for PhD students at ETH Zurich (2-3 hours, 0 ECTS).

The PhD program in Plant Sciences is offering this course in spring term, however all research integrity courses hosted by your department are also accepted.

All PhD students who have or will participate in a course on “Research Integrity” or “Ethics” during their PhD program don’t need to visit the introduction class. To see all accredited training courses, check the scientific integrity training course catalogue. (PDF, 163 KB)